Gwen Jorgensen’s video series is one of the finest ever on the peculiar nature of elite distance runners. Jorgensen, an 2016 Olympic gold medalist at the triathlon decided to move to the elite world of women’s marathoning. The series is highly produced, thoughtfully edited and managed by Gwenn’s husband. The raw honesty is what strikes me. Gwen’s race was not indicative of her fitness, and her illness for the week prior to Chicago was no help. Jorgensen’s video series is unrelenting, and honest, like a poem by e.e.cummings.
Gwen Jorgensen, 2018 USATF 10,000m Champs, photo by Mike Deering/The Shoe Addicts
Gwen Jorgensen has stated that she wants to make the US Olympic marathon team for women, no mean feat. She has also noted that she wants gold at the said Marathon distance in Tokyo 2020, which will be a hot and humid hellhole, to put it gently.
At the presser post Chicago, I asked Gwen to give something positive on the race. I have noted that she is quite negative after her races. While that may be a process, the U.S. women’s marathon team for Tokyo will be one of the most hotly contested and competitive events in U.S. Trials history. The plethora of U.S. women marathoners means that all has to be right for a women to make the team in Atlanta in 2020. That Gwen is being coached by Jerry Schumacher, one of our sport’s finest coaches, is a another point in her favor. As John Parker, the writer of cult classic, Once a Runner, noted, it is the Trials of Miles and Miles of Trials.
Want bonus content on athletics? Support the sport of athletics! Support RunBlogRun as we cover the sport of athletics nearly 24/7, and get bonus content, please go to: https://www.patreon.com/